Why it works: Lettuce and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,580 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Cut lobsters into small pieces and add a little of the fat and coral.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Moisten well with mayonnaise dressing.
Place on a platter and garnish with lettuce leaves.
Pour on more mayonnaise dressing and top with slices of hard boiled eggs and olives.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,580 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Lobster + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Lobster + olivetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together252 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lobster, pepper, egg, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lobster, pepper, egg, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More lobster salad recipes
You might also like
Lobster Sauce174 recipes
Lobster Croquettes99 recipes
Creamy Lettuce Soup8 recipes
Lettuce Soup8 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.